Amid the hustle and bustle of airports, shopping malls and commercial strips, there are quiet sanctuaries that are a rest stop for the soul.Across the country, almost 2,000 Christian Science reading rooms provide a peaceful place for prayer, Bible study or reading of The Christian Science Monitor newspaper.''Christian Science churches didn't have a minister that was always in the church edifice, as many other churches do,'' said Frederick Hillier, statewide spokesman for the Churches of Christ, Scientist.

The radiologists at Parrish Medical Center have had lots of extra work lately. The 210-bed Titusville hospital lost one of its five radiologists in January and has yet to find a replacement, leaving an already heavy workload even heavier for the four who remain. Even with five or six radiologists, Parrish would have a hard time covering the hospital's emergency department, which typically takes nearly a dozen CT scans and other high-tech diagnostic images between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. Getting fast and reliable radiology readings can be the difference between life and death for an emergency-room patient, not to mention the difference between a satisfied patient and a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

Walter J. Berry is 57 and for the rest of his life he plans to donate $1,000 a year to his alma mater, Bethune-Cookman College.To show its appreciation, the school is dedicating a reading room in Berry's honor in the school library. The Walter J. Berry Reading Room will contain materials relating to a discrimination lawsuit Berry was involved in.Berry, an assistant principal in Lake County, and 12 other people filed a class action suit accusing the Lake County school system of racial discrimination.

Is it real or fake? That's a recurring question for anyone touring a southwest Orange County home billed as "Florida's first Faux Showcase House." A leisurely stroll through the 21 faux-filled rooms in the 7,600-square-foot estate will test one's sense of certainty: Are the mahogany beams in the reading room real wood or faux art? Is the mosaic border in the upstairs bathroom made out of tiles, or are they a great imitation? Set on 2.5 acres along the Butler chain's Lake Pocket, the 14-year-old home has been reconstructed since developer Mitch Menaker and business partner Patti Giles bought the home last June as an investment.

Since 1973 many residents seeking solitude or a quiet place for thought or prayer have looked to the Christian Science Reading Room, 111 E. New York Ave. The reading room, operated by the Church of Christ, Scientist, not only offers a place for meditation, but serves as a lending library of cassettes, periodicals and books and sells some publications.''Only publications that are authorized by the mother church in Boston are offered here,'' said librarian Virginia Prescott, who has worked there for more than 15 years.

The Orange County Library System would open a new branch library in east Orange and expand the children's reading room in the downtown library, under its proposed budget for the coming year.The $18.85 million budget, which received preliminary approval from county commissioners Monday night, would not cost taxpayers more.It would keep the current tax rate to operate the 11 branch libraries and main library in downtown Orlando.The tax equals 44 cents for every $1,000 of taxable value.For a resident with a $100,000 home and a $25,000 homestead exemption, the tax bill for library service would remain at $33.09.

Author E.L. Doctorow wrote in the New York Public Library's famous reading room and inventor Edwin Land dreamed up a new kind of camera there. Now New Yorkers will have to do without the elegant, cavernous reading room. It is closing on Monday for a two-year renovation.

An unidentified donor has given $15 million to renovate the New York Public Library's main reading room, The New York Times reported Thursday. The reading room, which is the size of a football field, serves as the symbolic center of the city's library system and has been used by several generations of writers and scholars. Marshall Rose, the library board's outgoing chairman, said while plans for the renovation are preliminary, nothing will be done to alter the room's atmosphere.

The Library of Congress is delaying until the end of January its plan to cut back the hours its reading rooms will be open. Beginning Jan. 29 the rooms will be open nine less hours a week, library officials said Wednesday. The reduced hours originally had been scheduled to go into effect Jan. 5. The new schedule will cover the main reading room, the Law Library reading room and newspaper and current periodicals, business, science, microfilm and local history and genealogy reading rooms. They will close at 5 p.m., instead of 9:30 p.m., on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Inside the Christian Science Reading Room, the quiet is broken only by pages being turned and conversations spoken in lowered tones.The reading room's plain window display of religious and informational material is at odds with the glitz displayed in other windows leading up to its 322 N. Park Ave. location.This is no ordinary Park Avenue store. There is no regular parade of visitors coming through the door. Those who do are either Christian Scientists coming to read in the two back rooms, or people curious to find out exactly what the reading room is all about.

WASHINGTON -- Sandy Berger, the former national-security adviser to President Clinton, resigned Tuesday as a senior adviser to Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign after the disclosure that he had improperly removed classified materials on terrorism from a secure government reading room last year. The decision came after Berger endured a day of furious criticism from Republican leaders, who accused him of breaching national security and possibly passing classified material to Kerry's campaign.

By Reviewed By Nicholas A. Basbanes, Special to the Sentinel, April 14, 2002

It's not just spring flowers attracting busy bees this time of year. April is National Poetry Month. National Library Week is this week. And think of all those special days -- Earth Day, Arbor Day and, recently, Opening Day for baseball. New books for young readers related to these subjects put spring into spring. TONGUE TWISTERS Poetry for Young People: Edward Lear, edited by Edward Mendelson, illustrations by Laura Huliska-Beith (Sterling, $14.95, 48 pages): Quality never goes out of style as this hilarious collection of 35 tongue-twisting poems by the incomparable Edward Lear (1812-1888)

FRUITLAND PARK-- Nick Przystawski was miles away, and so were his children, Kevin and David. The trio sat together, their minds locked on a colorful children's book, almost oblivious to the chatter of city officials and patrons touring the new Fruitland Park Library during its official dedication Monday. "Isn't this just fantastic," the elder Przystawski said, balancing blond-haired David, 1, on one knee, while keeping a close eye on Kevin, 6, nearby. The Leesburg podiatrist compared the children's area with that of its counterpart, the Leesburg Public Library.

LADY LAKE - Good news, bad news. The bad news is that the public library in Lady Lake had to wait in line for its renovations until the old town hall moved out of the building on Guava Street. The good news is that despite the delay, the library will open six weeks earlier than expected. On Friday, city commissioners will tour the building, which will be opened to the public by the beginning of April. Library Director Marilynn Nesbitt said the architect is also the construction manager, and he has been on the site every day. ``That has allowed us to be ahead of schedule,'' she said.

What do you do with a little enclosed porch? Often it runs the risk of becoming nonfunctional space in a small house already comprised of little rooms.The good news is several legitimate purposes for the problematic porch exist, ranging from refined to rustic and including the ever-popular garden or solarium room. Such areas can also serve as a reading room, guest bedroom, home office or game room.This is a situation for that flexible chair-and-a-half sleeper that converts to a full twin-size bed. With just enough room for a small dresser, a mirror and a table lamp, the area is complete.

The Deltona Regional Library, one of Volusia County's newest, has become the area's busiest.The library, which opened in the spring of 1995, has more than 60,000 items on hand, including books, videos, music CDs and books on tape.Regional Librarian Margaret Minter said the library circulated 41,000 items in October alone, putting Deltona at the top of the county's 15-library system.The library also offers access to a variety of computers, including word processors, reference computers and terminals with Internet access.

What do you do with a little enclosed porch? Often it runs the risk of becoming nonfunctional space in a small house already comprised of little rooms.The good news is several legitimate purposes for the problematic porch exist, ranging from refined to rustic and including the ever-popular garden or solarium room. Such areas can also serve as a reading room, guest bedroom, home office or game room.This is a situation for that flexible chair-and-a-half sleeper that converts to a full twin-size bed. With just enough room for a small dresser, a mirror and a table lamp, the area is complete.

Some were lost in thought and books, others in time. In the main reading room of the Library of Congress, the afternoon's collection of scholars, researchers and amateur wisdom-seekers sat at the circular desks that are part of the world's largest library. More than 80 million items are here on 535 miles of shelves. At a rate of one minute per item, eight hours a day for five days a week, 648 years would be needed to examine all that the library holds. The citizens in the reading room were trying to reach ''the instant of knowing,'' a phrase that Josephine Jacobsen, a former consultant in poetry to the library, used in her farewell lecture in 1973.

The Orange County Library System would open a new branch library in east Orange and expand the children's reading room in the downtown library, under its proposed budget for the coming year.The $18.85 million budget, which received preliminary approval from county commissioners Monday night, would not cost taxpayers more.It would keep the current tax rate to operate the 11 branch libraries and main library in downtown Orlando.The tax equals 44 cents for every $1,000 of taxable value.For a resident with a $100,000 home and a $25,000 homestead exemption, the tax bill for library service would remain at $33.09.

Author E.L. Doctorow wrote in the New York Public Library's famous reading room and inventor Edwin Land dreamed up a new kind of camera there. Now New Yorkers will have to do without the elegant, cavernous reading room. It is closing on Monday for a two-year renovation.